What are the different types of car excess?

11 December 2018

No matter how much you love your car, accidents happen and they’re not always your fault. Cars are expensive things to own and can be very expensive to fix in the event of an accident. This is why it’s always a good idea to have car insurance.

After you have had an accident, you may need to pay an excess as part of your claim. But what is an excess?

How excess works

Put simply, your excess is the amount you may have to pay when you are making an insurance claim after an incident. When you sign up for car insurance, your excess is the amount you agree to contribute towards the claim. Usually, if you elect for a a higher excess, your premium (the amount you pay each year) will be reduced.

So, if your car has been damaged in an incident, and the repair bill comes to $5000, you will pay for the first portion of the repair bill with your excess. If your excess is $500, the insurance company will pay for the remaining $4500.

This doesn’t mean you always have to pay the excess if you have an accident. You won’t have to pay an excess if you (or the person driving your vehicle) are not at fault for the accident occurring, and you are able to provide the name and address of the person at fault with the registration number of their vehicle.

What kinds of excesses are there?

There are different kinds of excesses that you may have to pay when making a claim, and there may be more than one depending on the nature of your incident and claim.

Standard excess

A standard excess applies to all motor insurance claims unless stated otherwise in your Product Disclosure Statement (PDS). The PDS for any insurance product details what is and what isn’t included in that product, so make sure to read it carefully to know what you are covered for.

The standard excess is the base amount you will pay when making an insurance claim. All of the following excesses will be added on top of the standard excess, when relevant.

If you want more information about the specifics of the PDS before you buy an insurance product, they are always available on the website.

If you are an existing customer, you can log in to My Suncorp to check out all of your policy documents.

Voluntary excess

When you sign up for car insurance, you may decide to add a voluntary excess to reduce the premium you pay. The way it works is, the more you are willing to pay for the repairs when you make a claim, the less the insurance company will have to pay, therefore, bringing down your premium.

This extra excess will be added on top of the standard excess you will already need to pay. This voluntary excess will, of course, apply to all claims where the standard excess is needed to be paid as part of the claim.

Age excess

An age excess will apply for those under the age of 25. This doesn’t mean that only people under 25 have to pay this excess when making an insurance claim. When a person under the age of 25 has an accident when driving your vehicle, you will have to pay the age excess as well.

This age excess is an addition to the standard excess and voluntary excess.

Inexperienced driver excess

There are a couple of factors that will need to be reviewed to determine if you will need to pay an inexperienced driver excess. Similar to the age excess, the inexperienced driver excess is partly based on age, but for this one, it is for everyone over the age of 25.

On top of being over the age of 25, if the driver of the vehicle has had their driver’s license for less than two consecutive years to the time of the incident, they will need to pay this excess. Again, this excess will be added on top of the standard and voluntary excess.

Driver history excess

A driver history excess applies to people involved in an incident where they are at fault and have had their driver’s license cancelled, suspended, disqualified or restricted in the three years prior to the time of the incident.

This provides yet another incentive to be a safe and responsible driver.

When you go to purchase new car insurance or renew your existing policy, check your excess and make sure it suits your budget and your needs. Also make sure to read over your PDS to see what excesses you may be faced with.

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